Classic Boat — November 2017

Above: the wheel

is original, but

the winches have

been upgraded

since 1963

CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2017 35

1963 ADMIRAL’S CUP

C

larion of Wight was the first British Admiral’s

Cup boat to be designed by non-British designers

and proved to be Sparkman & Stephens’ first

really successful boat designed to the RORC rule. Unlike

Outlaw, she was traditionally built of mahogany

planking – apart from the garboards and adjacent three

planks which were teak – on oak frames.

In 1966 she was bought by Sir Maurice Laing, who

altered her underwater profile by converting the rudder

on the trailing edge of the keel to a trim tab and fitting a

new skeg-hung rudder further aft, in keeping with the

changing trends of the time. He also replaced the tiller

with wheel steering. It is said that Ted Heath had his first

offshore race aboard Clarion around this time, before

ordering his first Morning Cloud. In 1970 Laing sold

Clarion to Dr R O’Hanlon who kept her in Dun

Laoghaire and the following year she made her second

Admiral’s Cup appearance, this time as part of the Irish

team, which finished 11th out of 15 teams.

From 1975 little is known of her history – although

she may have been based in the Isle of Man in the 1980s

• until 1992 when she was bought by Brian and Yvonne
  Turner. The Turners brought her back to good order
  during the 20 years of their ownership, including, in
  2007, putting in a new plywood subdeck with teak laid
  over the top. They raced her offshore extensively
  including the Ostend-Heligoland race, the Millennium
  Round Ireland Race (in which she was first in class), at
  least one Fastnet and the Great Yarmouth to Terschelling
  race, which she won overall.
  By then it was 2012 and a Frenchman, Thierry
  Lebeaux, was looking for a classic boat. He owned a van
  der Stadt 40 (12.1m) foot steel sloop – “very heavy with
  too much sail, and very difficult to handle” – having
  previously owned two smaller GRP modern boats.
  He spotted Clarion of Wight in a Sandeman Yachts
  advertisement in Classic Boat. When he and wife Jane
  went to Ipswich to see her, broker Barney Sandeman

CLARION OF WIGHT

NIGEL SHARP

CB353 Clarion/Outlaw.indd 35 26/09/2017 13:18